Kubica out in Q2.

Robert Kubica will start from a minimum best eleventh in the Chinese Grand Prix after struggling for pace in his BMW Sauber.

Robert Kubica's F1 world championship ambitions took a dent after the Pole failed to progress beyond the second phase of qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Kubica had only just escaped from Q1, but continued to struggle for pace in a BMW Sauber battling understeer and even a late lap on the softer Bridgestone tyres failed to produce the improvement he was looking for. Indeed, having sat eleventh for much of the 15-minute session, the Pole eventually wound up twelfth as Nelson Piquet Jr found a minor improvement. Kubica will, however, start from the inside of row six when Mark Webber takes his engine change penalty.

Piquet headed the list of those failing to make the cut, with Timo Glock, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg also dropping out. Barrichello aside, the others would have harboured hopes of making it into the top ten shoot-out after promising practice times but, with performances so close, 15th placed Rosberg was only half a second shy of tenth-placed Jarno Trulli.